🚨 West creates proxies, then blames Pakistan - Pakistani Defense Minister

"It is very convenient for the big powers to blame Pakistan... [These terrorist organizations] were being used as proxies by the United States," Khawaja Asif told Sky News.

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💥 Houthis' air defenses making the US sweat — 22 drones downed and counting

The Houthis' takedown of scores of MQ-9s and the US’s growing use of standoff munitions and B-2 bombers signal a growing threat from the Yemeni militia’s air defenses.

According to The War Zone, the Houthis’ ability, "at least to a degree," to domestically develop and field missiles is making them a significant challenge.

While not “super technologically advanced,” the Houthis are considered “pretty innovative,” a senior US defense official said.

🔶 Among their most modern weapons are the Barq-1 and Barq-2 SAMs, with a 50-70 km range and a 15-20 km altitude. They're believed to be upgrades of Soviet-era Kub and Buk systems.

🔶 Additionally, the Houthis have developed the Meraj “guerrilla air defense” missile, an upgraded Badr 1-P SAM.

🔶 They also use the Saqr (358) loitering missile, which tracks targets in a figure-eight pattern with infrared sensors resistant to countermeasures.

🔶 Some Houthi SAMs, like the Thaqib series, were created by repurposing old Soviet air-to-air missiles intended for Yemen's MiG-29 fleet, with one even capable of locking onto targets outside the line of sight and behind its launcher.

This week, pro-Houthi media reported a militia attempt to intercept a B-2 stealth bomber using air defenses, forcing it to retreat. The US, reluctant to even admit the use of B-2s in Yemen, has yet to comment.

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🚨 White House launches probe into 'straw donors' - ActBlue in hot water?

A new memorandum targets "unlawful" contributions in US elections, including those made by foreign actors.

"ActBlue has been caught funneling money from foreign countries, blatantly exploiting our campaign finance laws," Speaker Mike Johnson wrote on X, referring to the largest Democratic fundraising platform.

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❗️ Starmer hopes the ceasefire in Ukraine will be reached by the summer, he told the Telegraph.

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💥 India reports firing from Pakistan, no injuries

Small arms fire erupted at border posts between Pakistan and India, NDTV reported, citing army sources.

📹 Social media footage reportedly captures the sounds of gunfire from one of the border checkpoints.

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🔥RUSSIAN SPECIAL OP FIGHTER DODGES DRONE STRIKE

A Russian special forces soldier (Spetsnaz) on a quad bike swiftly evaded a Ukrainian drone strike near the settlement of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk People's Republic.

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❌US takes a step back from the globalist climate change agenda

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has decided to eliminate the Office of Global Change, which was responsible for implementing and coordinating the country's international climate change policy, the US media reported.

Earlier, Rubio presented a comprehensive plan to reorganize the State Department to reduce bureaucracy and enhance efficiency. It is expected that the implementation of this plan will reduce the department's staff in the US by 15% and close more than 130 local offices.

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💃🕺From trade war to trade tango? China eyes tariff SHIFT on certain US goods

🔽China is weighing the possibility of dropping its reciprocal 125% tariff on medical equipment, chemicals like ethane, and aircraft leases, Bloomberg reported, citing sources.

↗️ The news of potential exemptions sparked a market rally, with the offshore yuan rising to 7.2857 per dollar, recovering the 0.1% loss it had seen earlier on Friday.

🤝 Beijing’s move would mirror recent US tariff exemptions, which excluded smartphones, computers and some other electronics imported largely from China.

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❗️A US aircraft just crossed into Russian airspace amid reports of Special Envoy Witkoff planning a visit to Moscow.

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🟠 Lavrov: Russia is ready to reach a deal on Ukraine, but some of its elements need to be fine-tuned

🟠 Ukraine violently destroys Orthodox church in Belgorod region

🟠 Houthis' air defenses making the US sweat — 22 drones downed and counting

🟠 How do you like it, Donald? Iran building massive border wall with Afghanistan

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🗣Key takeaways from the preview of Russian FM Lavrov’s interview on CBS

🔊"You don't trust the word of the president of the United States?" Russian FM Sergey Lavrov wondered when a CBS interviewer asked him to confirm Trump’s statement on the upcoming Putin-Witkoff meeting.

Check out Lavrov’s statements on the Ukrainian conflict with CBS’ Face the Nation:

🇷🇺🇺🇸Russia and the US are “moving in the right direction” toward a settlement in Ukraine.

💬 “The president of the United States believes, and I think rightly so, that we are moving in the right direction […] The statement by the president mentions a deal and we are ready to reach a deal.”

🤝 Russia is “ready to reach a deal on Ukraine, but there are still some specific points, elements of this which need to be fine-tuned.”

✅ The US president is “probably the only leader on earth who recognized the need to address the root causes of this situation," Lavrov claimed.

🪖 Russia targets only “military goals or civilian sites used by the military […] President Putin expressed this for so many times."

The full interview is scheduled to air on Face the Nation this Sunday.

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✅ Trump’s Mideast visit could seal $10BLN arms deal with Saudi Arabia

🪖 The proposed package could include advanced weaponry like C-130 aircraft, missiles, and radars from US military industrial giants such as Lockheed Martin, Raytheon Technologies, Boeing Co (BA.N), Northrop Grumman Corp and General Atomics, sources told Reuters.

Trump would be accompanied by several defense industry executives during his visit to Riyadh in May, added the report.

🤝 The deal comes after the Biden administration failed to secure a defense pact with Saudi Arabia as part of a broad agreement that envisioned Saudi Arabia normalizing ties with Israel.

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🚨Gulf of Thailand plane crash LEAVES FIVE DEAD

Footage from social media

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🤡 Moldova's possible EU accession by 2028 not plan, but propaganda of Sandu gov't

💬 "Kallas is once again feeding the Moldovan people with empty promises. The EU accession by 2028 is not a plan, but propaganda designed to justify the anti-people reforms of the Sandu regime," Moldovan opposition leader Ilan Shor told Sputnik.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said during her visit to Chisinau that Moldova will be able to join the EU in 2028 if the republic's authorities manage to make progress in the reform process and do their "homework."

0️⃣Moldova's chances of joining the European Union by 2030, let alone 2028, are zero, as most of the bloc's members are against it and the referendum on membership is a farce, the politician said.

👎Brussels has been keeping some countries in a "pre-accession" status for so many years, pumping out resources and forcing them to fulfill humiliating conditions, he said.

❌Brussels does not need the poor Moldova, but it wants to use the country as a buffer zone against Russia, Shor added.

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